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The New York Times: The Greek Bailout Isn’t Working

Πέμ, 01/08/2013 - 19:00

For some time now, it’s been clear to many analysts that the European and International Monetary Fund bailout program for Greece is not working. The country is mired in a depression and its government shoulders a large and unsustainable debt. Few policy makers have been willing to acknowledge that reality in public because doing so would be an admission of failure and require them to change their approach, which they have already done once before. But on Wednesday, a member of the I.M.F.’s board who represents Brazil and 10 other countries broke that silence by issuing an unusual and refreshingly candid statement.

“Recent developments in Greece confirm some of our worst fears,” the board member, Paulo Nogueira Batista, said in a statement. “Implementation has been unsatisfactory in almost all areas; growth and debt sustainability assumptions continue to be overoptimistic.”

Mr. Batista released the statement after abstaining from a vote authorizing the I.M.F. to send another 1.8 billion euro ($2.4 billion) contribution to the Greek bailout. (In an e-mail message, Mr. Batista said he is speaking only for himself as an I.M.F. official and not on behalf of the 11 countries he represents.)

It’s common for members of the I.M.F.’s board, which has 24 directors, to disagree with each other and the staff of the organization. But these differences are rarely aired in public, which is what makes Mr. Batista’s statement so important.

While his blunt talk — he said the idea that the Greek government can afford to pay back its debts in full was “all but a delusion” — is unlikely to make him popular, it could help start an important conversation. Hopefully, it will prompt others at the I.M.F. and especially leaders of the European Commission and the European Central Bank, the two most important players in the rescue of Greece, to reconsider their positions or at least be more honest about the consequences of their policies.